The children of the liberated Africans at the Iron Factory of São João de Ipanema

Abstract

Due to the english pressure and other variables of the established political debate, most of all, at the law houses of the Empire of Brazil, the government sanctioned, on November, 7, 1831, the law which prohibited the transatlantic traffic and freed all africans who were to land in the territory after this sentence, with the condition of compulsorily staying under braziian State authority for a determined period of time. It is about the children of these, freed but detained in Brazil, africans that this research intends on dedicating, once it brings an important matter that is, up to the present day, underexplored by the specialized studies. The work aim is mainly to analyze the actions and treatment paid to the children of the liberated africans at the Iron Factory of São João de Ipanema, in Sorocaba, at the countryside of São Paulo, in order to identificate the place granted to this kids in the duties of work developed inside the factory and, fundamentally, comprehend if the legal provision was obeyed in that treatment. The sources used will be manuscripts, formal notes and lists, regarding the liberated africans available at the Public Archive of the State of São Paulo and the set of laws referring to the liberated africans and their children's conditions available at the Law Collection of the Empire of Brazil. The time frame will be from 1839, the moment in which the liberated africans are directed to the Factory, until 1865. The final point is justified by a short interruption of the production activities in 1860 due to the economic instability the country was facing, which resulted in the transfer of the workers, together with their relatives, to the colony of Itapura, in Mato Grosso. However, the institution of Sorocaba took up the activities in 1862 and the liberated africans were moved back there, where they worked for a few more years.